This invention relates to earth moving equipment, such as backhoes, excavators, front loaders and skid steers, and specifically relates to means for modifying the bucket associated with such earth moving equipment to provide a removable edging device.
The conventional bucket of a backhoe, and other earth moving equipment, has teeth along the front edge of the bucket that makes the bucket digging aggressive, but often leaves behind a rough floor that needs additional cleaning or compaction before completion. It is the typical practice in the industry to weld a flat plate to the edge of the bucket to achieve a cleaner working area. The edge picks up the loose dirt and rocks that the bucket teeth leave behind. With an edge on the bucket, the operator can easily dig to the desired depth without disturbing the ground below grade. This results in less back fill and compaction.
Welding an edge to the bucket teeth requires access to a welder and someone with the technical expertise to perform the welding job. Once the edge is welded on to the bucket, it is very difficult to change back to teeth. Most often the teeth are not reused because of the time required in cutting out the welds. Therefore, the whole system is thrown away when the edge is worn, and the bucket is difficult to reuse.
It would be advantageous, therefore, to provide a means for providing the bucket of earth moving equipment with a removable edge member that can be easily and quickly bolted to the bucket for use in smoothing the ground surface, but which can later be removed without damaging a bucket, thereby also allowing the edge member to be reused at a later time.
The present invention includes an edging device for an earth moving machine having a bucket including at least one receiver detachably attachable to the bucket of earth moving machine. The receiver has a plate and an attachment member for engaging the bucket. The edge member is configured to be detachably attached to the receiver, where the edge member has a leading edge for contacting the earth.